As the Internet and associated web services evolve, there is a movement to associate telephony calls with certain web applications. In click-to-call scenarios, an icon to initiate a telephony call may be provided in a web page, which is supported by a web client, such as a web browser. Upon selecting the icon, the web client may initiate the telephony call to a destination associated with the icon, wherein a voice session is automatically established. The ability to initiate telephony calls by simply clicking on an icon in a web page provides significant value to users and content providers.
Unfortunately, the telephony call must be originated by the web client, which is provided by a communication terminal. In many instances, the communication terminal is not equipped to support telephony calls, since many of the communication terminals are personal computers or personal digital assistants without the hardware and software necessary to support telephony calls. Even if the communication terminal is capable of supporting telephony calls via the web client, the user may wish to use another telephony terminal, such as a mobile, home, or work telephone for a telephony call to the destination associated with the icon. If another telephony terminal is desired, the user is not able to take advantage of the icon to automatically initiate the call and must take separate measures to initiate the telephony call.
Select communication terminals may support a web client as well as provide a telecommunication client for supporting telephony calls over virtually any type of network. Although the telecommunication client can support telephony calls, the web client is not able to engage the telecommunication client to initiate calls in response to selecting the icon in a click-to-call event. In essence, the telecommunication client is isolated from the web client. As such, any telephony calls initiated from the web client must be supported by the web client, not the telecommunication client.
Click-to-call capability is also applicable for email, instant messaging, word processing, and spreadsheet applications. Icons for initiating a telephony call may be provided in any electronic document, such as emails, instant messages, word processing documents, or spreadsheets, as well as in the application interfaces. However, the inability to support telephony calls or to use a terminal other than the one running the corresponding application for the telephony call remains an issue. Accordingly, there is need for an efficient and effective technique to automatically initiate telephony calls upon making selections in electronic documents or applications. There is a further need to initiate telephony calls to be established between two remote telephony terminals as needed or desired. There is yet a further need to allow a user to control the click-to-call event.